A burial casket normally has a base, which can be closed by a top lid. The base is generally an open, hollow, rectangular shape. The open side thereof usually has the greatest length and width when compared to the other sides. With the top lid in sealed relation therewith, the casket is closed.
The top lid is generally hinged on one, long, open side of the base and lockable on the oppositely disposed side. With the lockability, the lid becomes sealed to the base and protects the contents of the burial casket.
The key feature of the sealing comes with the locking of the casket by a lock rod tube extending through a side wall of the body of the casket. The rod includes a threaded portion. The rod is turned by a socket formed therein to receive a turning device.
The socket may be turned by hand or crank to move it and join it to the end of the rod. In this fashion, the end of the rod is locked. The opposite end of the rod has a locking bar with hooklike projections. The hooklike projections enter openings in eyes from the casket lid to lock the casket in the closed position, when the bar is moved outwardly by turning the crank.
The ease of securing the locking mechanism and the rod to a flat wall casket is well known. However, it is difficult to make a proper seal of the locking mechanism to a round wall casket or rounded corner casket or curved wall casket. While round wall casket or rounded corner casket or curved wall casket are mentioned, the terms are substantially interchangeable. Cutting an aperture in that rounded wall combined with the gluing procedure to secure the locking mechanism therein is time consuming and labor intensive.
With the mounting of the locking mechanism in the curved wall, access to the tightening mechanism becomes a problem. The screw must be accessed so that it can turned in order to complete the locking. The curved wall and the mounting difficulty interfere with this required access.
It is also difficult to make such securing actions result in or maintain a proper appearance for the casket. Thus, it is desired to simplify this procedure and achieve the desired results of an aesthetic casket, while retaining the efficiency of locking the casket.